Increased competition brought about by trade liberalization has raised the stakes
for improving productivity in U.S. and Canadian food processing. A key element of
productivity growth is technological change, which in turn results from R&D investment.
The present study employs an econometric model to assess rates of technological change
and...
An inventor seeks to leverage his unique means in order to create and commercially exploit new technologies. Until new technologies are sufficiently developed, they have the theoretical potential for commercial exploitation in a wide range of markets. Those opportunities are limited by physical bounds that are often only discovered through...
Thirty preschoolers were tested for language skills using
the Preschool Language Scale (PLS), Peabody Picture Vocabulary
Test-Revised (PPVT-R) Form L, and Sequenced Inventory of Communication
Development (SICD). Each child's age scores on one test
were compared to his/her scores on the other two tests. As a
group, the children achieved...
My thesis, entitled “The Clerk’s Tale: Literal Monstrosities and Allegorical Problems,” argues that Chaucer’s Clerk is engaging both sides of a binary system. The Clerk has situated himself in a precarious position between two major schools of thought in the medieval culture, Franciscan and Dominican; the former promotes the will...
My thesis, entitled "Fantastic Histories: How Malory's Morte Darthur
Influenced Tolkien's The Silmarillion," argues that J.R.R. Tolkien's Silmarillion
shares distinct similarities in style and content with Sir Thomas Malory's Morte
Darthur, primarily in the lack of detail in the descriptions of characters and events, as
each attempts to create a...
This thesis examines depictions of medievalism in three central texts: Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe, Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, and George R.R. Martin's A Game of Thrones. Each of these texts provides an entry point for exploring the ways in which English and American writers have...
My thesis explores the later work of author J.D. Salinger, including two narratives featured in Nine Stories, "A Perfect Day for Bananafish," and "Teddy," and Franny and Zooey, "Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters," and "Seymour: an Introduction." Through my analysis I argue that the religious nature of Salinger's fiction...
This thesis presents two related studies on the methodology for creating, and
subsequently analyzing, an inverse food web model of an intertidal seagrass bed. The first study (Chapter 2) describes, for the first time in the literature, a method for incorporating isotopic information gained from Bayesian mixing models into an...
A simulation study of end-of-aisle order picking AS/R systems
is made with special emphasis on improving the system throughput by
introducing a zone near the home (Input/Output) location on each side
of the aisle, for storing partially picked pallets. The study considered
class-based-turnover assignment policies, one with a zone and...
This work compares the condensation heat transfer and pressure drop for zeotropic refrigerant R-454C and its individual components, R-32 and R-1234yf, in horizontal microfin tubes. One microfin tube has a 4 mm outer diameter, 0.18 mm wall thickness, and a surface area ratio of 1.56. The second tube has a...
The growth of bdellovibrios at the expense of the host organism involves the catabolism of host cell macromolecular components and the subsequent anabolistic incorporation into bdellovibrio progeny. Extracellular enzymes specific for the various substrates provided by the host cell are present. In this study the extracellular RNase of Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus...
Continuous process scale-down and emerging markets for low-power/low-voltage mobile systems call for low-voltage analog integrated circuits. Switched-capacitor (SC) circuits are the building blocks for analog signal processing and will encounter severe overdrive problems when operating at low voltage conditions. There exist three techniques to solve the problem, but with their...
This research focused on the use of classical and modern two-dimensional spectral estimation techniques for enhancing inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) imagery. 2-D Classical spectral estimation methods and 2-D modern parametric and non-parametric spectral estimation methods are applied to simulated and real data sets in order to achieve both range...
Fisheries management that is based on quantitative assessment has commonly relied on estimating the unfished biomass of a fished stock to compare current and historical population size. Developing predictive models for this requires many years of catch and abundance data. Smaller, new, or mainly recreational fisheries may not have the...
The subcellular fractions of liver and kidney from three bearded
seals (Erignathus barbatus nauticus) and three walrus (Odobenus
rosmarus divergens) were analyzed for cadmium and mercury content,
and the results were compared with the results of subcellular
fractionation of the same organs from two sea lions (Zalophus callfornianus
californianus) obtained...
Digital systems, in particular microprocessor, have recently experienced phenomena growth in performance. Both technology advancement and clever design have sustained this performance growth. As clock frequency heads into the Ghz range, new circuit design, for both logic and storage, are needed. Such new circuit technology must provide needed performance with...
Recently, an interest in supplementation of vitamin D to improve aspects of health, especially in human fertility, has emerged. However, supplementation of Vitamin D above the minimum required levels to prevent deficiency has yet to be explored in cattle despite evidence for vitamin D receptors in reproductive tissues. The objective...
A new approach to oversampled delta-sigma A/D converters ( AZ modulators ) is introduced, where a differential pseudo-Npath filter stage is used as a basic cell. In this band-pass application, the z to -zN transformation is employed to realize a RAM-type pseudo-2-path lossless integrator. The bandpass second-order and 4th-order delta-sigma...
This thesis presents a novel algorithmic A/D converter to be used in a biosensor. The converter is capable of a conversion rate of 1.5 bits/phase and hence the required conversion time is reduced. The proposed architecture is analyzed for non-ideal effects and compared with existing algorithmic A/D architectures. The converter...
The design of mixed-signal integrated circuits has evolved from simple analog and digital circuits operating on the same silicon substrate to the point that now we have complete system on a chip solutions for communication systems. The levels of integration needed to remain cost effective in today's integrated circuit (IC)...
Oversampling analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converters are gaining more
popularity in many signal processing applications. Delta-sigma modulators are used in practical applications of oversampling systems because of their apparent practical advantage over other oversampling converters in terms of insensitivity to the inevitable imperfection of the analog circuitry.
In Δ∑ modulators, analog...
Recent interest in oxy-fuel combustion for carbon capture, as well as advancements in technologies such as magnetics, materials, and computational modeling has sparked renewed interest in magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) power generation. The increased temperatures of oxy-fuel combustion versus air-fuel combustion poses a challenge in the selection of materials for plasma exposed...
Chloride ion migration was studied under accelerated cathodic protection conditions using 6" x 6" x 6" mortar blocks of varying initial chloride content and water to cement ratios. An iron mesh embedded parallel to one face in the blocks acted as the cathode and zinc was thermally sprayed on the...
Geometric design standards have not been developed specifically for low volume roads. Design standards and criteria are extrapolated from higher standard roadways that are often not relevant to low volume roads. Safety is a primary criterion used for selection of design standards along with economic, financial, social and environment factors....
Temporal and spatial patterns of daytime cloudiness in the
Willamette Valley of Oregon were studied by utilizing monthly and
daily sky cover data published by the U. S. Weather Bureau for the
Portland, Salem, and Eugene stations. The 15-year period, 1949
through 1963, was selected as the maximum reliable period...
Numerous analytical aids are available to apple producers to assist them in the decision problem of choosing among alternative apple harvesting systems. However, a majority of these techniques
fail to recognize the effect of apple orchard yield variability on system performance and economic efficiency. Furthermore, many of the suggested procedures...
Evaluation of the safety hazards along a highway is usually
performed at specific locations and on known hazards. But, it is also
important to find any unrecognized hazards and their locations. Many
factors contribute to accident potential, and the combined effect of
several of them could produce a hazard that...
The development of a pavement management system for low-volume roads is a difficult task. There are many interrelated activities that must be considered, such as planning, design, construction, maintenance, and pavement evaluation. This paper addresses the evaluation and maintenance components of a pavement management system for low-volume roadways and provides...
Three experiments whose objectives were to investigate cover
crop kill by winter freeze, weed suppression by 'Micah' barley and
other spring cereals, and allelopathic potential of cereal covers
were conducted at the Vegetable Research Farm and in the greenhouse
and growth chamber facilities at OSU in 1989/90. Kill by winter...
The Cackling goose (Branta hutchinsii minima) population has increased from a low of 20,000 in 1984 to the current population of 220,000-300,000 (Stehn 2012, Sanders 2013). As the Cackling goose population began to recover in the late 1990s, the majority of the population relocated from wintering in California to the...
Third Culture Kids (TCKs) are a rapidly emerging student population within colleges and universities. TCKs must balance the myriad of experiences of growing up among worlds with the amplified implications that it entails as college students (Van Reken & Pollock, 2010). This study attempts to fill the gap between the...
Mold growth on cheddar-style cheese, though not a food safety issue, causes significant loss to the industry due to consumer rejection. For this reason, it is common for at-risk products, such as cheese shreds, to be coated with the mold inhibitor natamycin. While highly effective at extending shelf-life, preferences for...
Connecting with nature is associated with social, physical, and emotional benefits such as stress relief, improved physical health, and lower crime. Parks and other natural areas offer spaces in which to connect with nature and reap these and other benefits (e.g., family bonding, social events, learning). Despite increasing populations of...
Designation of areas as marine wilderness has been proposed as a strategy for managing the increasing threats facing the world’s oceans. Although social factors influence marine protected area success, the human dimensions of marine wilderness remain minimally explored. This thesis examines views of marine wilderness expressed by a representative sample...
The recently emerged Grapevine Red Botch Virus (GRBV) impedes proper berry ripening primarily by reducing sugar accumulation and color development in red-fruited Vitis vinifera L. cultivars. To date, there is no recommended management strategy for virus spread or the impacts of the disease beyond removal and replacement of infected vines....
The increasing demand for forest products and restricted use of natural forests has resulted in a shortage of high-strength wood fiber. The area covered by plantation forests is steadily rising, but the fiber produced by these forests is often unsuitable for high-strength applications. One attempt to combat this problem is...